The Biggest Scam in the Tech World? Insights into an Unprecedented AI Collapse

Promised: Apps in Minutes, No Coding Required

A new player in the tech industry promises the impossible from the start: customized apps, built in minutes with the help of artificial intelligence.

The promise is tempting. Without the need for coding, businesses and individuals can suddenly order apps the same way they order takeout.

Their AI tool is marketed as revolutionary. With a personal digital assistant at the forefront, pitched as the project’s driving force, the expectation is that it can orchestrate the entire process by itself. And the big money quickly follows.

A billion-dollar valuation, partnerships with the likes of Microsoft, and access to hundreds of millions of users become a reality. Even Qatar Investment Authority and SoftBank are inspired by the visions and invest hundreds of millions into the project Builder.ai.

A Pristine Image with Cracks

But behind the polished surface, the story quickly begins to crack.

Already in 2019, a journalistic investigation reveals that the alleged automation looks most like old-fashioned labor in disguise.

Hundreds of developers in India and Ukraine manually code the projects supposedly driven by AI.

The technology is based on simple decision trees rather than advanced machine learning.

Customers’ experiences rarely align with the promises: delivery times are exceeded, quality lags, and functionality is missing.

Fiction on the Bottom Line

As the media investigates the technology, internal investigations begin to reveal another level of deception.

To maintain the illusion of explosive growth, the management artificially inflates revenue.

Through so-called round-tripping, invoices are sent back and forth between partners without any real services.

This practice creates an image of bustling business activity when in reality there is emptiness.

Meanwhile, the company’s daily expenses rise to over half a million dollars. Despite massive investments, the coffers quickly drain.

Leadership Without Direction and Responsibility

Amidst it all, financial leadership is absent.

From the summer of 2023 until the collapse in May 2025, the company has no CFO in place. Yet, hundreds of millions are raised during this period.

A newly appointed CEO soon discovers the reality: debt exceeding 100 million dollars and a systemic breakdown of control and management.

Eventually, creditors intervene. With withheld funds, layoffs across five countries, and a public bankruptcy announcement, the chapter for Builder.ai closes. What was supposed to be a revolution turned out to be virtual manual labor and an invoice carousel.

Our team may have used AI to assist in the creation of this content, which has been reviewed by our editors.